First Name | Todd |
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Last Name | Shuman |
Email Address | tshublu@yahoo.com |
Affiliation | Wasteful Unreasonable Methane Uprising |
Subject | SLCP Reduction Strategy and Livestock Enteric Emissions |
Comment | To the CA Air Resources Board, CARB has again largely ignored enteric emissions from livestock in the development of its SLCP Reduction Strategy and DEIS. Enteric emissions constitute about 30 percent of methane emissions in California in a normal year. It is unconscionable that this methane source (about a billion pounds of methane emission per year in California) continues to be severely neglected by CARB when there are reasonable measures that could be enacted to dramatically reduce methane emissions from this source. I propose again that CARB, the legislature, and the Governor explore and consider enacting some or all of the following: measures to promote mandatory livestock herd size reduction; requirements that cattle shall wear plastic backpack technology that captures the emitted methane so it can be burnt rather than belched into the atmosphere while they graze in the pastures [http://www.fastcoexist.com/.../these-backpacks-for-cows..., http://www.dailymail.co.uk/.../Now-THATS-wind-power-Cows... , http://grist.org/.../crazy-clip-shows-what-happens.../...]; mandates that compel the development of enclosed barns-vented-to-biofilter treatment systems that capture emitted dairy-associated methane before it escapes into the atmosphere. Enteric fermentation methane emissions from dispersed, pasture-based livestock should also be considered for incorporation within cap and trade (with pollution permit costs to ranchers based on a short-term interval methane Global Warming Potential [GWP] value). For dairy CAFOs, there should be meaningful, mandatory reduction targets established for enteric emissions from livestock. Finally, and more generally, a stiff tax should be imposed on all other sources of uncaptured, unburnt methane emitted into the atmosphere that are not included in cap and trade. The tax should be based on the use of a short-term interval methane GWP. Since the best scientific estimate for the actual physical lifetime of methane in the atmosphere is a little over 12 years (12.4 years, IPCC AR5th 2013), a methane GWP of 100 should be used, as that is the approximate methane GWP associated with the 12.4 year interval. On a planet that is rapidly heating and undergoing significant anthropogenic climate disruption, we can no longer remain passive in the face of livestock and dairy industries that continue to externalize significant enteric-emission-related methane pollution costs onto the broader global environment. Sincerely, Todd Shuman, Wasteful Unreasonable Methane Uprising, Camarillo |
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Date and Time Comment Was Submitted | 2016-05-03 08:51:20 |
If you have any questions or comments please contact Clerk of the Board at (916) 322-5594.